Vic Valentine: Why children should learn about trans people in school

Vic Valentine

Challenging gender stereotypes in schools is crucial to give all children and young people the tools they need to navigate a world that has many unspoken rules and expectations around gender that are taken for granted.

It is important that amongst these lessons is an introduction to trans people – people whose sense of their gender does not match up with what we might have expected based on what our bodies looked like when we were born.

Recognising that some people are trans is an important part of challenging gender stereotypes – which are all rooted in the idea that the body you are born with defines who you are and who you can be.

Not teaching children the fact that some people are trans does not make us all magically disappear.